Date changed for Lofts at 881 auction

Published 5:59 pm, Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The auction of the remaining condominiums at the Lofts at 881 in downtown Bridgeport has been delayed a couple of weeks.

An auction of the remaining units at 881 Lafayette Blvd. was to happen Aug. 30, but the owners of the building decided to move the actual auction date to Sept. 20.

Victor Naar, one of the principals in E/N, said it wasn't due to a lack of interest in the condominiums.

"We got a lot of traffic," Naar said, of interest in the condos. But the timing of the auction was bad, he said, because it was set for the end of the summer the week before Labor Day. The hope is that holding it in late September will allow more people to attend the auction, he said.

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The auction will be held at The Trumbull Marriott, 180 Hawley Lane, Trumbull. Registration begins at 11 a.m and the auction starts at noon. People interested in the available properties can view the units on Sept. 11 through 13 and Sept. 18 and 19. The open houses on Friday are held from 3 to 7 p.m. and the ones on Sunday are held from noon to 3 p.m.

Sheldon Good, the auctioneer, noted in a press release, that it has lowered the cashier's check amount required to bid to $4,000 for a one-bedroom and $6,000 for a two-bedroom. The cashiers' check must be presented at the time of the auction.

Those interested in bidding must also purchase a bidder's information packet, but its cost was not published by Good.

Jared James, a realtor with Remax Right Choice, in Milford, said in his experience staging an open house or auction the week before a major holiday is usually a good time to do it because people are staying home. But having an open house or auction the week of a holiday, like Labor Day, would not be a good idea.

"We're starting to see a bit of a turnaround," he said, crediting a federal tax credit of $8,000 for first-time home buyers. He said a lot of first-time home buyers are looking at condominiums now and want to get the tax credit before it expires at the end of this year.

The Lofts at 881 has 19 condominiums available. The minimum bids on the units are set at $90,000 for one bedroom and $110,000 for the two bedrooms. The brick building at 881 Lafayette Blvd. was a commercial building until 2007 when E/N turned it into residential units.

About half the building has been sold, with sales as recently as November 2008, when one of the units went for $210,000. The owners have agreed to sell at least four units if the minimum bids are received, but have the right to refuse other offers.

He said, however, the condominium market is showing some strength at long last after getting killed. He said a lot of the condominiums were new construction and the price point made them unattractive.